Dick Jauron was the accidental Bears coach — hired in a pinch in 1999 a day after Bears president Michael McCaskey botched the hiring of Dave McGinnis in an indelible episode of Bears dysfunction.
It was the opportunity of a lifetime for Jauron, who died Saturday at 74 after being diagnosed with cancer this week. A former Pro Bowl safety with the Lions, he was getting his first head coaching opportunity at 48 after 14 seasons as an assistant, including the previous four seasons as the Jaguars’ defensive coordinator. But it wasn’t exactly the right place at the right time.
The Bears were coming off back-to-back 4-12 seasons under Dave Wannstedt and had not had a player make the Pro Bowl in five seasons. And these were even more tumultuous times than normal at Halas Hall. The McGinnis fiasco led to team owner Virginia McCaskey replacing her son Michael as president with vice president of operations Ted Phillips. And after Jauron went 6-10 and 5-11 in his first two seasons, the Bears hired Jerry Angelo as general manager in 2001 — but after the NFL draft.
That led to an awkward dynamic. Angelo was hired with the understanding that Jauron would be his coach for the 2001 season. Angelo clearly had ideas of getting his own man, so 2001 became the ultimate prove-it year for Jauron. And the way the Bears were trending, it didn’t look good for him.
“I think everybody knew what could have happened — if Dick Jauron didn’t succeed, Jerry Angelo most likely would have gone in a different direction,” said former Bears quarterback Jim Miller, who played four seasons under Jauron from 1999-2002. “And we as players knew how good Dick Jauron was as a coach.”
Guided by the Yale-educated Jauron, those players responded like never before and produced one of the most astonishing seasons in Bears history. From 5-11 in 2000, the Bears parlayed a series of exciting victories into a 13-3 season and an unexpected NFC North championship. The Bears were 8-1 in one-score games that season — highlighted by memorable back-to-back overtime victories against the 49ers (37-31) and Browns (27-21) that ended on pick-6s by safety Mike Brown to improve the Bears’ record to 6-1.
“Dick Jauron, for a defensive coordinator, that guy could manage the clock at the end of a game better than anybody — and that includes Bill Belichick, who I played for,” Miller said. “The guy knew the clock, when to call time outs, how to win a game strategically, he knew it all. He taught us all how to play. What a great coach.”
Jauron beat out Belichick for NFL Coach of the Year honors and his success forced Angelo — who had been noncommittal about Jauron’s future through much of the 2001 season — to reward him with a three-year contract through the 2004 season.
But, typical of the tough luck Jauron faced with the Bears, progress actually played a role in his demise. The renovation of Soldier Field forced the Bears to play home games in 2002 at Memorial Stadium on the campus of Illinois in Champaign. Traveling for all 16 games, the Bears slumped to 4-12 in 2002. The Bears went 7-9 in 2003 and Jauron was fired, replaced by Lovie Smith.
Jauron was 35-45 in five seasons with the Bears. He later was an interim coach with the Lions in 2005 (1-4 in place of Steve Mariucci) and the head coach for the Bills from 2007-09 (24-33).
Jauron was born in Peoria, the son of former Manual High School football coach Bob Jauron (Dick’s middle name is Manual, named after the school to fulfill a promise his father made after Manual beat Kewanee in 1950). But he went to high school in Swampscott, Mass.
An All-America running back at Yale who was a fourth-round pick of the Lions and a 25th-round pick in the major-league baseball draft by the Cardinals, Jauron was a starter at safety for all eight seasons in the NFL with the Lions (1973-77) and Bengals (1978-80). Jauron had 25 interceptions with two touchdowns — including a 95-yard return for a touchdown against the Bears and Gary Huff in a 30-7 Lions victory as a rookie in 1973.
But his legacy will be one of decency and an understated manner that commanded the respect of players and coaches.
“I would have done anything for him,” Miller said. “You almost felt like you were gonna let your dad down if you didn’t come through for him.
“He taught you to be a better man, a better person. Never had to cuss or anything to get his point across. He represented everything you wanted to be. And he’s had a huge impact on a lot of players, a lot of coaches. He’ll be dearly missed. He’s a great man.”